Enrollment and Student Services announces new structure for its ADEI offices

Dear University Community,

We are excited to share an update about changes in Enrollment and Student Services (ESS) that will allow us to better serve Western's students.

We have created an Access, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Unit that will be led by Litav Langley as assistant vice president for ADEI. This new unit will house Multicultural Student Services, the Disability Access Center, and LGBTQ+ Western. MSS and LGBTQ+ Western will be part of the unit immediately. The DAC will become part of the Unit after the conclusion of this academic year. We will conduct a search for a new LGBTQ+ director.

As the leader of this division’s ADEI Unit, Litav will guide the development of strategy and collaborations across MSS, the DAC, and LGBTQ+ Western to foster belonging and holistic thriving for our many students who hold multiple marginalized identities. Moving the DAC from Student Life to the ADEI Unit provides structure to grow our services supporting positive identity development and community and cultural engagement for disabled students of all identities. With MSS, the DAC, and LGBTQ+ Western working together, the ADEI unit will host intercultural dialogues, community-building, and learning about interconnectedness in social justice practice.

Across ESS, Litav will lead us in growing as a division which dismantles inequitable systems and builds creative, more equitable structures and practices that respect and promote the flourishing of all Western students. This will include ADEI-focused staff development, interdepartmental communication and problem-solving, and collaborative student services. This new structure will support all of us in fulfilling our division-wide equity and inclusion responsibilities to our students and one another. In turn, we will also support the work of Western’s first Chief Diversity Officer, when that person arrives.

As we build the ADEI Unit, Amy Salinas Westmoreland, Director of Multicultural Student Services, is leading the move of the Ethnic Student Center (ESC) and the Student Advocacy and Identity Resource Centers (SAIRCs) from Student Engagement to their new home under Multicultural Student Services. Bringing these centers into MSS creates a connected structure for serving students with marginalized racial and ethnic identities. The Black Student Coalition will also be housed under MSS; Amy is leading the search for the inaugural Coordinator for the BSC. Eventually, MSS will be home to not only the ESC and BSC, but to a Latine/x Center, Asian American and Pacific Islander Center, and a social justice resource center, and will house a professional staff member dedicated to working with undocumented students and their families.

We are glad to be moving forward together with you all in the work of living our mission and values.

Our best,

Melynda Huskey, vice president for Enrollment and Student Services

Litav Langley, assistant vice president for Access, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Amy Salinas Westmoreland, director of Multicultural Student Services

Josef Mogharreban, director of the Disability Access Center